Improvement in road-scrapers



to side.

UNITED STATES PATENT Orrrcn.

ROBERTA. HAW, OF EUREKA, CALIFORNIA.

IMPROVEMENT m- ROAD-SCRAPERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 172.876, dated February 1, 1876; application filed I October 4, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT A. HAW, of Eureka, in the county of Humboldt and State of California, bar e invented a new-and Improved Road-Scraper; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 represents a perspective view, and Fig. 2 a side elevation.

Similar letters of reference in the accompanying drawings denote the same parts.

The object of this invention is to provide for public use a more efficient and convenient machine for scraping, forming, and com pacting road-beds than those heretofore in general use; and to this end my invention consists in the improved machine, constructed and operating substantially as I will now proceed to describe.

In the drawings, A is the front or face board of the machine, made of stout plank, bolted firmly to-the top platform B, and the triangular supporting-frame O, and central truss plank D. The front board extends, substantially, straight across the machine from side Its lower edge is curved upward from the extremities to the middle, as shown in Fig. 1, and is shod with a plate, E, of steel about three inches wide by one half an inch thick, the ends of which are flush with or slightly projecting beyond the ends of the face-board, so that it will cut its way clear at all times.

The front part of the machine is supported upon two vertically-adjustable caster-wheels, w w, the standards of which are connected with adjusting-levers, ll, whichcan be secured in any desired position by means of pins 10, and perforated uprights u, or other suitable device. The rear end of the machine, at the junction of the frame-planks O G D, drags upon the ground, and to facilitate its movement it may there be provided with a metallic shoe, or may rest upon a roller.

The machine is intended to be of sufficient size to extend half across the road-bed, and is to-be drawn by two separate teams, connected to beams t t, each team having its own driver, who rides upon the appropriate side of the platform near the end of the lever, which, with one hand, he can readily raise or lower as occasion may require.

The machine, although large, can be readily turned on the caster-wheels and guided with great ease and accuracy. When drawn squarely along the road, the steel plate E acts as ashare, and cuts and levels everythingin its way, depositing the dirt in the holes and ruts where any exist, or, where the surface is uniform, carrying it along in front of the machine, sloping the road from the center to the sides, and leaving it as smooth as a floor.

If the dirt is to be left on one side of the road more than the other, that object is at once attained by raising one side of the machine with the proper level. If the dirt is to be taken from a ditch or bank by the roadside and thrown into the center, it is only necessary to raise the side of the scraper farthest from the ditch or bank, depress the near side to the ground, and haul the machine at an oblique angle to the road, when it will operate like a plow, and throw the dirt as desired. The teams are always to be kept and driven in the road, and the machine is to be thrown out to the edge of the road to a bank or ditch by simply adjusting the angle of the machine to the line of its movement, which the drivers can readily do by means of the levers, and by properly guiding the teams and starting up or holding back one or the other, as may be required. movements can be effected will, of course, depend materially upon the skill and experience of the attendants. With a little experience, two men and two spans of horses have, with this machine, been able to level a greater extent of road-bed, and do it better than fifty men could possibly do with picks and shovels in the same time.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new-- The road-scraper herein described, consisting of the straight transverse face-board A,

having its lower edge curved and shod 'with metal, the platform and drag-frame, and the cas ter-wheels and adjusting and lockin g levers,

combined and operating substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

ROBERT AARON HAW,

The facility with which all these 

